“Putting Turkey under full monitoring again has to be understood not as a punishment but as an act of friendship” according to Miko. Through intensified co-operation with the Turkish authorities that is foreseen in the full monitoring procedure, PACE wants to back the fight for democracy of the Turkish citizens and Turkish civil society.

In their report Marianne Miko and Ingebjørg Godskesen point out that the developments since the attempted coup on 15 July 2016 including the detention of politicians and journalists as well as the purges in the public service are alarming. They also stress that repeated violations of the freedom of media and the freedom of speech, the situation in south-east Turkey as well as the constitutional amendments and the constituional referendum are endangering the democracy in Turkey.